How weapons from the Gaza war are killing Palestinians on the streets of Israel

Police officers at the scene of a car bomb attack in Ramle, September 5, 2024

Baker Zoubi reports +972 on October 1, 2024:

As Israel’s assault on the Gaza Strip nears the end of a year and the army begins a simultaneous ground invasion of southern Lebanon, a new war is intensifying in parallel – a war waged by criminal gangs in Palestinian communities in Israel. Since the start of 2024, more than 180 Palestinian citizens of Israel have been killed in attacks linked to organized crime, a figure that could be on track to equal last year’s record of 244. And it’s not just the numbers that are shocking; it is also the nature of the attacks.

While criminal killings in the past have predominantly been shootings, there has been a sharp increase in the use of explosives in recent months. The most notable example was a car bomb attack in the town of Ramle on September 12, which killed four people – including two children – and injured nine others, including a two-month-old baby. Last week, a Palestinian man from the Bedouin town of Hura was seriously injured in a similar attack in the town of Kiryat Malachi.

There is a sense among Palestinians across Israel that adopting such tactics means criminal organizations pose a deadlier threat than ever before. And the proliferation of high-end weaponry on Israel’s streets can be directly traced to the army’s years-long offensive in the Gaza Strip.

“Explosives of this magnitude come from or are somehow connected to the war in Gaza,” explains Dr. Walid Haddad, a criminology expert who previously advised Israel’s Ministry of Public Security. “These are military methods, and most of the ammunition used was smuggled or leaked from the military, unlike the relatively simple ammunition used (by Palestinian resistance groups) in the West Bank against Israeli forces.”

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